The Presidents of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, did not fail to recall the importance of this transatlantic partnership on Tuesday 15 June, during the summit between the EU and Canada.
The EU and Canada are “friends and allies who share common priorities and who will continue to work together to address the various challenges before us”, Mr Trudeau summarised.
Overcoming Covid-19
In their joint statement, the leaders first committed to working together to end the Covid-19 pandemic and to foster a fair and sustainable global recovery by moving towards green, innovative, inclusive and resilient economies and towards the creation of decent jobs.
“Beating Covid-19 remains our number one priority”, Mr Michel stressed, recalling that the EU was the world’s largest exporter of vaccines. The EU has authorised the export of 16 million doses to Canada, or 60% of the country’s doses, making it the 4th largest European export destination.
Mr Michel also announced the establishment of a Canada-EU dialogue on health. “We will share our expertise, lessons learned and best practices in order to be better prepared and to work closely together on these issues”, Ms von der Leyen explained.
Fighting climate change together
The leaders also committed themselves to the fight against climate change and the protection of the environment. “We are counting on Canada as a strong ally in this fight”, said Ms von der Leyen, for whom the two parties must coordinate closely before COP26, but also COP15 on biodiversity.
“We discussed how to put in place a global carbon price - ideally we would have many supporters of carbon pricing - but also, of course, in this context, how to support our competitiveness, the issue of industrial transition and how to avoid carbon leakage”, said the Commission President, while the EU’s plan for a carbon border adjustment mechanism is causing international concern.
“We often talk about a greener economy, but we also need to talk about a bluer economy”, Mr Trudeau added. The EU and Canada will therefore launch the Ocean Partnership Forum to strengthen cooperation, including with stakeholders, on promoting ocean sustainability through joint initiatives.
Trade and cooperation on digital
The EU and Canada largely reiterated their support for multilateralism and the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in world trade. Threats to the multilateral system and unfair competition are among the issues they want to tackle together.
At the bilateral level, both partners advocated for a full implementation of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada. “It is a crucial asset”, said Ms von der Leyen. Trade in goods between the EU and Canada has continued to grow between 2017 and 2020. European exports to Canada, for example, increased by 31% between 2016 and 2019, according to Eurostat. They then declined in 2020, due to the Covid-19 crisis.
However, EU leaders believe that there is room for manoeuvre to push CETA to its full potential. This means raising awareness among farmers and manufacturers on both sides of the Atlantic. There are also practical problems on the ground in implementing the CETA properly. The EU and Canada are committed to resolving them as soon as possible.
The summit also saw the announcement of a new EU-Canada strategic partnership on raw materials. “We want to diversify our importations for raw materials, away from Chinese producers”, said Ursula von der Leyen. The partnership should improve the security and sustainability of trade and investment, integration of supply chains for raw materials (especially minerals), scientific and technological collaboration, and socio-environmental criteria, according to the joint declaration.
Finally, cooperation will extend to the digital field with the EU-Canada Digital Dialogue and the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence. The EU has also paved the way for potential Canadian participation in the Horizon Europe research programme.
Cooperating internationally
Lastly, the EU and Canada underlined that they would continue to work closely together to promote international peace and security and their shared values.
They pledged to work closely together to address the common concerns and challenges they face in their relations with China and Russia and to exchange views on how to engage with them where possible and in the interests of both parties.
The two partners also agreed to further deepen cooperation and dialogue on regional issues such as the Middle East, the Eastern Mediterranean, the Indo-Pacific region, Myanmar, Iran, Africa and Venezuela.
See the joint statement: https://bit.ly/3wrh0n1 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant and Léa Marchal)